The Lawn Can Wait

It's been two weeks.  Maybe three.  It's hard to remember.  I suppose I really should  mow the lawn today.

But I'm not going to.

It's not so long that it can't go another week.  It's not so long that I would lose a pet in the tall grasses.  It's not so long that I wouldn't see a snake or gator before it was too late.

I am a creature of habit when I do mow.  I mow on Saturday mornings.  And if it rains, or if I have another obligation,why, I'll just wait another week.  Rarely, I will mow with the atheists on Sunday morning.

I don't have a riding lawn mower.  Our lot is a little under an acre, and I don't see the necessity for a big mower.  We do normally have two push mowers, so I and my son can split up the task and get it done quicker. I say normally, because one of our two mowers has given up the ghost.  It seems like one or both of them is always needing repairs.  This means rather than split, we have to tag team.  And I don't know how much I'm up to that.

We lost a lot of limbs due to Hurricane Irma.  We managed most of it and put it into a debris pile.  I think we clearly won the neighborhood prize for most yard debris.  We have a huge oak tree in the backyard, that is very solid, but sheds a lot of limbs during storms.  At that, there is still some debris in the fenced in back yard that the dogs use.  I'm not in a rush.  I figure it's fun for them, like negotiating an obstacle course.

We have a good number of shrubs and plants and flowers, that I don't really know what they are or a clue as how to take care of them.  I suppose at some point, I might have to trim them or something.  You would think with my semi-retirement from accounting, I would have more time to figure this out.  I don't know, though.  More time off is not turning me into a yard person yet.

My Dad was a yard person, a hangover I think from managing a farm in his younger days.  He never asked for my help, and when I did try (probably my Mother sending me out to do SOMETHING), he would give me a little to do, and if I wasn't doing it right, he would just take the job back.  My father is a wonderful man, but not really a great delagator when it came to yard work or household tasks.  I did take over the lawn mowing by late junior high/high school. With a push mower, of course.

Mowing isn't all bad.  The routine physical exercise allows me to think, and sometimes to come up with creative ideas.  I came up with the whole re-coursing of my life towards doing business and accounting as a career while doing yard work.  Okay, that might not be the best example of positive creative thought.

There are some people who get great joy out of yard work, like my father. More power to them.  They only time it upsets me is when people of that ilk think that people who DON'T do that are lazy.  Investing in a yard that takes a lot of work to maintain is a choice, not a requirement.  What looks like a necessary chore to some may look like artificially created busy work to someone else.

Okay, let me check the yard again and see if I really have to do it yet.

Nah.  I'll pass.

Two Goal Weekend!

Gooooaaal!

I was DeeLighted to spend last weekend with my son Doug and his girlfriend Paige.  

The highlight was a trip to Atlanta's new stadium, Mercedes Benz Stadium (one more time - the only downer to the place is the stupid corporate name attached to it), watching the new sport sensation, Atlanta United, the MLS (Major League Soccer) team who, in it's first year, is already in solid competition for a playoff spot!

We got there early, and this is a picture of the stadium before people were seated.  As early as we arrived, there were still plenty of people walking the outside ring, which was filled with a festive atmosphere, and vendors selling food and drinks at remarkable prices.  A souvenir cup with unlimited refills was $4.  We got cheese nachos for $3, and a huge pretzel for $2.

The seats were comfortable with great views, and......THEY GOT DRINK HOLDERS!!!

At half time, they watered the field.  Not quite sure why, given it's artificial turf in a domed stadium, but.....there you go.

In reviewing the pictures I took, I was surprised to see I didn't take any pictures of the soccer action.  Sorry.  I was too busy being mesmerized by the nonstop movement.  It's pretty much continuous once they start playing.

I am thrilled to report that Atlanta United beat the Montreal Impact 2 - 0!  This puts them in third place in their division (the top six teams go to the playoffs)!  This is an extraordinary showing for a first year expansion team!

Meanwhile, before the United game started, there were dozens of TV screens showing the other Mercedes-Benz team, the Atlanta Falcons, playing a game in Detroit against my beloved, beleaguered Lions.

Which curse would rule?  The Falcons giving up a lead, or the Lions having touchdowns taken away by the refs?

Yeah, the Lions had a spectacular drive with only a minute left, score spectacularly with only eight seconds left, and then have the refs review it, take it away, put in a ten second run off, and end the game without giving the Lions one last play.

So, end of story.  The Lions, last time as national champions in 1957, are more cursed than the Falcons.  So there.

Oh, the cliche of it all!  I took a picture of my food from an Irish restaurant in Atlantic Station.  It's Bangers and Mash, washed down with a Guinness Half and Half!  It is kinda symbolic of a trip next year we are taking to ....Ireland!  Yes, Doug, Paige, Alison and I are going to that Emerald Isle in 2018!

The best food I ate too quickly, and failed to get a picture of.  Paige made homemade bagels that were the best ever, just the right taste and texture.  I also came home with some delicious homemade bread she made.  Delicioso!

It was a fantabulous trip, and I look forward to their visiting us very soon!

A Brand New Lector!

This last weekend, I went to Atlanta to see my middle son, Doug, and to take in a soccer game at the new Mercedes-Benz stadium (the sheer idiocy of naming stadiums after corporations is a topic for another day),

It was a great trip, but I left some responsibilities behind.  One of them was being Lector at our church.  The Lector does the the third reading of the mass,  usually from a part of the New Testament, excluding the Gospels.  Who could fulfill that job?

Benjamin!  He did a wonderful job of filling in, reading beautifully, with expression and feeling.  The parishioners were impressed, and Benjamin will now be a part of the rotation.

I wish I could have seen it, but my being gone was the opportunity that Benjamin needed, and he took it very successfully.

I look forward to hearing him read at future services!

Resisting the Silly Season

Sometimes politics devolves into the silly season.  We suddenly find our political discourse diverted from issues of substance, into meaningless stories that have little relevance to ourselves, our community, our nation, and planet.

All political sides, and the media that serves as their megaphones, are to blame for this.  Our social media lights fuses under these stories, creating a firestorm that engulfs us all.  All of a sudden, over the water-cooler at work, we find ourselves discussing the meaning of a retail store's display of cotton, rather than the drastic consequences, pro or con, of impending health care legislation that will effect 1/6th of the US economy, and likely touch the lives of everyone of us.

We discuss the status of an NFL quarterback and debate whether he should ever be allowed to play again, because he dared to exercise his right not to stand for the national anthem and instead kneel, and barely pay attention to the fact that we have two world leaders bringing the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation because they can't stop one-upping each other with threats and insults.

We argue about the relevance of climate change, like Nero playing his fiddle while the consequences of it consume the world.  Juiced up hurricanes, fires in the western US, hundred year floods occurring around the world, melting glaciers, new hottest month ever occurring with regularity - all point to the reality of something many want to ignore and trivialize.  We're more interested in building a wall to keep our neighbors out, than we are in helping a neighbor in need after a devastating earthquake.

It doesn't help that we have a President who communicates mostly via tweets, blurted thoughts limited to 140 characters.  It doesn't help that we have news networks with agendas that sometimes float to the trivial.  It doesn't help that many of the stories we see are skewed to fire us up, and sometimes are downright falsehoods.  Our willingness to believe any partisan thing we see is what enables groups like the Russian hackers and troll bots to so easily manipulate our elections.  Our own gullibility increases their power to affect us.

Conservatives are especially gifted at this game.  They have for decades been able to focus the American public on side issues, from flag burning to school prayer.  Through carefully selected anecdotes and cherry-picked statistics, they have been able to promote a dismal view of the poor and minorities.  They raise the specter of non-issues and bring them to the center of public debate.There is no record of transgender use of bathrooms being a problem, yet we get consumed by it.  Voting fraud, particularly voting twice, is virtually non-existent, and yet it has risen to the level of Defcon 1, high enough that we gleefully suppress the number of people actually able to vote.

It's not that liberals don't try to play this game.  They do.  They're just not very good at it.  Fussing about who can speak at a college campus just comes across as a moronic waste of energy.  Arguing about cotton displays is just far too easy to make fun of.  Boycotting anything and everything just seems petty.  And people whining about "safe spaces?"  Don't even get me started!  

We have a lot of important issues ahead of us, folks.  Let's try to stop dwelling on the trivial, and refocus on things that really matter, that will have impact on us and our children.  It's difficult, I know.  It's hard when you hear a story of a teacher physically assaulting a child for not standing during the pledge, or when a conservative speaker is banned from a college campus, or when a celebrity says something stupid, and on and on.  It's not that we shouldn't care at all.  But we have bigger fish to fry. Our future is at stake.

Let's see what we can do to make things better for everyone.

An Act of Defiance

Ocidious      Meglomentions           Soapistry      Halobin           Mot            Wolzenhowl
Ramparted   Edgeweighs                 Hungthi       Aeyerale          Aut             Ostershep
Ichorly         Narwhalian                  Eyece          Tomemstein     Dot             Rollshout
Ghorster       Teasenot                                          Eiserlee            Eit              Dicewhee
Instince        Oralreadenbookor                            Seace                                  Slingfree
Norbeaster   Roarnoker                                                                Ust
Arstfist                                                                                          Pst      
Loubenupe




Too Bad

I Dance On the Pseudo-poetical Edge

If I Fall

I Fall

   

All My Writing Flaws

Boy, do I got'em!

I have no doubt about that!  Between the blog and the newspaper column and the kindle works and the self-published novel and the self-published memoir, I've exposed a lot of inadequacies.  I'll discuss a few some others have mentioned, and some I've noticed myself.


BIG WORDS

This is one someone noted recently.  I respectfully disagree.  I strive to keep my writing as basic and direct as possible. Some might feel it is too simple.  I have never been too flowery or over-descriptive.  I have read some authors who can take three pages to describe a sofa.  I usually describe it in two words - a sofa.  Or, if I get real fancy, three words - a big sofa.

That said, I'm sure that in some of the political pieces, like the Saturday Soap Boxes, I might use concepts that are not common to every one.  Not every one is well-versed in politics, or our base civic knowledge.  So it is not impossible that I might take off on something not everyone is familiar with.

In poetry, I don't use big words, but I will MAKE UP words.  That's one of the reasons I call it fake poetry.  I express myself without regard to to any set rules about poetry.  I'm not the first one to revel in made up words - e.e. cummings and Ogden Nash did the same thing.

That said, if any one reads something I wrote that they consider too high-falutin', please call me out. I'll be glad to consider changing it.

GRAMMAR

What's that siren I hear?  Oh, no!  It's the grammar police coming to take me away!

Oh, yeah.  I gots a problem.  Me and Grammar (Grammar and I?) are in a very shaky relationship.

You'll find the most grammar misteaks on my blog.  It is done early in the morning, and the edit time for it is strictly limited.  That might change, as I am now semi-retired, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

The newspaper columns go through a second edit, and it often change quite a bit.  Sometimes the edits get posted back to the blog.  Sometimes they don't.

The books only on Kindle are edited by me several times, but they have not been reviewed by outsiders.  Here Comes Tommy has not been grammar reviewed by outsiders.  Reading it the other day, I found another grammar mistake.  Subsequent editions will make whatever corrections I and others find.

History of the Trap and Crowley Stories (finished, but not yet published), were reviewed by me dozens of times, and by a professional editor, and by beta readers (people who read in advance of publication to make comments and suggest changes).  Still, I know, stuff slips through.  I was reading a best-selling history book, that had to have gone through many levels of edits, only to find something slip through that I commonly do (form instead of from).  So, basically, editing is a never-ending process.

Grammar also is a strange beast.  Unlike math, no matter how precise the rules are written, they are only a current codification of how a language is supposed to work.  English is a living, breathing language, and grammar is only a best guess interpretation as to how the language is really being used at a particular moment in time.  It is an explanation of things, more than it is a fixed, never-changing set of rules.

I use spell & grammar check on Word.  But honestly, on the grammar part, sometimes I overrule what it asks me to do.  The suggestions don't always make sense, and I'd rather say things in a more colloquial and less-structured manner.  I ain't gonna stop using ain't, no matter how often it's pointed out that it's not a real word.

That said, please help me spot errors where you find them.  And I intend to get the Grammarly program.  Although, I can't promise you I'll always do what it says.


POLITICAL VIEWPOINT

Everything is political.  Everything.  It's impossible to get away from.  Even refusing to comment politically is a political comment.  You can't get away from it.

Some of my blog stories are very political.  They get labeled Saturday Political Soap Box.  Others may also have politics in them - I give them, as one of their labels, politics.

It creeps through in other blog stories, but not in explicit detail.  It is possible to be very conservative and still find plenty of stuff that I write that you can enjoy. I've had some conservative readers say, that although they disagree with me, they still enjoy reading my perspective.  And really, who could ask for more than that?

Here Comes Tommy, Eric Reid and the Time Team, Through the Closet and Into the Woods - all are not very political.  History of the Trap is not explicitly political, although I would say it has elements of sociology and psychology.

Crowley Stories are not primarily political, but they do present some progressive characters and situations.  My Europa, a completed short I am still editing, is very political, but I feel like it presents a more optimistic version of where our political system could go (it's set in the 2030s).

MORE

Oy.  I'm just getting started, but this is running too long.  I try not to let individual blog entries run too long.  I'm highly conscious that most readers now have shorter attention spans, and read shorter articles on the interwebs,  It's good to keep things in digestible bites. I even follow that rule in my longer works - breaking into chapters, chapter parts, and individual stories into digestible chunks.

I'll try to get back another time to discuss more, including point of view, tense problems, stage directions, character feelings, and more!

I'll keep writing.  I got no other choice - it's in my blood now, and it's what I love to do - for better or worse.  I hope to do well enough to keep as many readers on board as possible, and maybe make enough where I can continue to phase out of accounting.

But whether that happens or not - I'm not stopping.

Twin Towers of Play Power!

I'm going to be in two (count 'em - two!) plays in the coming weeks!

First up is The Odd Couple (female version), at the Ritz starting September 28th and running through October 7th.

This is Neil Simon, people!  This is stage comedy at its finest!  And (drum roll, please)....

It features The Strait Boys, ME and my son onstage together, AS BROTHERS!  

If you like your ham served STRAIT UP, than double your pleasure and plan a trip to the Ritz!

Purlie Productions will be performing The Model Apartment at the Okefenokee Heritage Center on the weekend of October 14th.  

It is a five person production, and is a play both funny and dramatic.  I play the male part of an elderly Jewish couple, holocaust survivors, moving to Florida, in part to retire, and in part to get away from their crazy daughter.

How am I handling being in two productions at the same time?  Not well!  I am usually the Attendance King, and that is impossible with rehearsals going on at the same time.  But I wanted to help both groups.  Who could pass up working alongside my son?  Who could not support the socially relevant theater done by Purlie Productions?

I just hope I don't get the lines mixed up between the two plays!

Lit Up Monday Musings

Here Comes Tommy is available on Amazon or at the OHC. 

---------------------------------------------

We lit up.  Yep.  Lights and power since Wednesday.  It's been a pleasure, let me tell you.  I'm grateful there are no more hurricanes on the horizon.

Maria!  I just saw a hurricane named Maria!  And suddenly her name, will never be the same, I just hope her path takes her away...from our coast.

---------------------------------------

Here Comes Tommy had its big debut event - the Arts Festival at the Okefenokee Heritage Center! From Saturday 9 AM to 2 PM, I sold exactly.....ZERO copies!  I did sell two copies of The History of the Trap,

To date, I've sold one copy - to my sister.  Yes, I made my sister buy the book rather than get a copy free.  Well, I would have given her one, but she was faster than I was.  Of course, then I would have a total of ZERO sales.

Oh ,well.  More events coming up.  I'll probably have to spend more on publicity, probably exceeding what I can recoup in sales.

Bottom line?  Looks like I'll be working part-time in accounting even longer than I thought.  Happy Happy Joy Joy.

----------------------------------

I do have a science fiction short finished, My Europa.  I still have some editing to do on it.  I'll probably shop it in some science fiction magazine markets before I give up and self-publish.

Crowley Stories: Swamp's Edge is completely finished, and has been for awhile.  I've been having a lot of trouble working up the nerve to send it to agents and markets and such.  I mean, how do I buck up to do that, when I have ZERO sales on my new book, in an environment where people are already supposed to know me?

---------------------------------------------

I am in two (count 'em - two) plays that are rehearsing right now.  One is The Odd Couple (the female version), where I am playing the male equivalent of one of the Byrd Sisters.  And guess who's playing the other brother?  BENJAMIN!!!  That's right!  The Strait Boys...onstage together!  My best advice to the Directors and Crew - make sure the sofa is heavily reinforced!

I am also going to be in The Model Apartment put on by Purlie Productions, where I will play and elderly survivor of the Jewish holocaust.  I will be onstage with two of my favorites, Julianna Lacefield and Emily Beck, so I will be looking forward to that.  I have a lot of lines.  It will be a real challenge for me to learn, particularly with being in another play as well.

I am greatly stressed that I will be missing some rehearsals for each one.  Normally I am an Attendance King, and that's just not gonna be possible this time.

-----------------------------------

Watching the Falcons football game, we were glad that they won, but we are more conscious than ever at the number of injuries we saw.  It's a harder sport to watch now, knowing more about the long term damage these players are suffering.

Atlanta United has been amazing in their new stadium, having won two and tied one, and outscoring their opponents 13 to 3!  They are already setting attendance records, and I hope to be part of the crowd very soon.

---------------------

No, I haven't forgotten who is President.  And yes, I'm still losing sleep over it.  I am still agitated over it.  My faith in my fellow Americans, particularly my white evangelical friends, continues to shrink.  He re-posted a tweet of himself hitting Hillary Clinton with a golf ball.  Ladies and gentleman, the President of the United States.  God help us all.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait

Open Refrigerator Door Policy

I didn't think. I was a teenager at the time, and sometimes not everything was carefully thought out.

My parents had a second refrigerator/freezer that they kept in the basement, and I decided I wanted something from it, probably an ice cream treat and a soda.  Or, as we called it in Michigan, a pop.  I would like to say that it was only as a teenager did I indulge in pop, but my love of carbonated drinks has continued to this day, for better or worse.

It wasn't until many hours later that my Mom found out that I did not close the door to the refrigerator/freezer.  Everything in it had gone bad.  Not surprisingly, she was very upset.    Their son, whom they thought was growing into a responsible adult, proved otherwise.

At that point, I did the only responsible thing I could think to do.  It crossed my mind to blame my sister or the dog, but instead I owned up to it.  And I took my savings earned from summer and after-school employment, and re-stocked the refrigerator.  Even at mid-70s prices, it amounted to well over $100 (accounting for inflation, in today's dollars that's probably about a billion  - well, maybe not that much, but you get what I mean).

As time passed, I did much better with refrigerator responsibilities.  Now, as a budding senior citizen, I'm helped by the refrigerator making beeping sounds when I forget and leave it open.  Where was that technology when I was a teenager?

Sometimes you can be good, though, and it still not help.  Such is the case when Tropical Storm Irma gales by and disrupts your power for 55 hours.  Sitting in the dark, knowing you can't open the refrigerator, living off what's in the pantry, or what can be heated on the gas burner of the outdoor grill, it was an interesting time of living off the grid.

Right after the storm faded, Alison and I walked the neighborhood to survey the damage.  I noticed a strange whirring engine sound coming from the porches of many of our neighborhoods.  What the heck was that?  Well, they're generators, and over half the houses seem to have them.  I'd heard a co-worker talk about them (storm lesson one: don't look for a generator the day before a big storm is supposed to come through), but mostly I knew them from television, like how a hospital's powers shuts off and a minute later everything is back on, and they say, "Oh, the generators kicked in!", and then the surgeon realizes he's taking out the wrong organ and quickly makes corrections.

Too late to save our  refrigerator contents, we had a friend willing to take the meats we had in the freezer and store them in their generator-protected freezer. It was just one plastic bag full of organic meats we had recently bought at a local farmer's market, but we were glad to save them.  Before we opened the freezer to take them out, I absentmindedly opened the refrigerator,  and almost passed out from the foul stench that emanated from it.

When the power came back on, I really wanted to handle it like CSI, with a hazmat suit, but I just held my nose and dumped out the contents as quickly as possible.  Fortunately, we don't overstock, and we only had the one refrigerator/freezer.  Out total losses were only around $40 (in 1970s dollars, that's probably about three pennies - well, probably not that little, but you get what I mean).

Seeing so many of our neighbors, out and about, talking and sharing, helping each other, was a beautiful thing.  Political and religious differences, shyness and the self-absorbed busyness of our lives, all disappeared in the aftermath of the storm.  And it took a little while, because so many were in need, but when the power and internet people came, they came in fleet force strength, and operated quickly and efficiently in getting us back up and running.

Now that the crisis is over, I ask myself - will I join the generator army?  I'm not sure.  We don't have multiple freezers and such like many have. So I still don't know if I can justify the cost.  A $400 generator to save $40 worth of food?  I don't know.

On a selfish note, I would have liked to kept the TV up and running.  You know, I have to keep up with what that surgeon is up to.  Hey, Doctor!  That's not an appendix - that's a liver!

Meanwhile, I haven't gotten over that odor yet.  Whenever I go to open up the refrigerator door, I hear the Jaws theme in my head as I approach it.  Oh, well.  At least it's helping me remember to quickly close it back up.

The Blog is Back and the Weather Posts Thunder On!

We're back!

After 55 hours without power, and 60 without internet, The Strait Line has finally emerged from the "Irma Days".

And, of course, we're back to weather related posts!

The picture above is Benjamin standing in front of our yard debris pile.  Trust me, it looks even bigger in person, and we added to it after that.  Our neighbors agree - we are the yard debris champs! We have a very large, very old oak tree in our back yard, and although the main trunk is more solid than our house, the limbs rain down big time during storms.

We also had some big pine tree limbs fall in the front yard, so big that a friend came over yesterday and helped saw them up, so they could be carried to the debris pile. I am very grateful to him.  I got nothing, not a chainsaw or electric saw or even regular saw.  You see that I don't saw.  I may have to rethink that.

We also were able to use a friend's freezer to store some meats we had recently gotten from the WayGreen Festival.  He had a generator, and was kind enough to give us some storage space.  The whirring sound of generators was strong in our neighborhood.  I don't own a generator.  I may be rethinking that as well,

We got out to look at how the neighborhood fared, and wound up talking more to people than at any time since we moved in over four years ago.  Political and religious differences, shyness and the self-absorbed busyness of our lives, all disappear in the aftermath of a huge storm.  It was heartwarming to see people out and about and supporting each other.  It was also nice to have a couple of days where the weather was cooler and I wasn't under siege by flying insects.

I admit that Irma was more substantial here than I thought.  It created a lot of mess and damage throughout Southeast Georgia, even with the main path well west of us, and it being a tropical storm rather than a hurricane by the time it passed us.  It is the most damage we've received from a storm, and the longest power outage I've experienced.

If the lesson was to learn how important power was, and to appreciate it, then I didn't need the lesson. I figured that out in the first hour of the outage.  I didn't need the next 54 for it to sink in .  Yep.  I loves lights and TV and hot showers and refrigerated food and computers and the internet.  Am I spoiled?  Indubitably.  But I can live with that.


One more weather story tomorrow, as I have to piece something together for a newspaper column.  I have it tentatively titled as Open Refrigerator Policy.

The Strait Line is back, baby!

I hope you are too!

Prayers In Times of Weather Crisises

These are copies of prayers I found, that are very appropriate for these scary times, with natural disasters occurring throughout the world, and as I write this, Hurricane bearing down on Florida.  I don't normally like to copy so much, but in this case, I don't think they'll mind.

From The Catholic Church

PRAYER IN TIME OF NATURAL DISASTERS 

Compassionate Lord, we pray for those who have been devastated by recent natural disasters. We remember those who have lost their lives so suddenly. We hold in our hearts the families forever changed by grief and loss. Bring them consolation and comfort. Surround them with our prayers for strength. Bless those who have survived and heal their memories of trauma and devastation. May they have the courage to face the long road of rebuilding ahead.

We ask your blessing on all those who have lost their homes, their
livelihoods, their security and their hope. Bless the work of relief
agencies and those providing emergency assistance. May their work be guided by the grace and strength that comes from You alone.

Help us to respond with generosity in prayer, in assistance, in aid to the best of our abilities. Keep our hearts focused on the needs of those affected, even after the crisis is over. We ask this in Jesus’ name,

Amen.

From Episcopal Relief & Development

Prayers in Time of Disaster
 

On the Occasion of a Disaster

Compassionate God… Draw near to us in this time of sorrow and anguish, comfort those who mourn, strengthen those who are weary, encourage those in despair, and lead us all to fullness of life; through the same Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen

— Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (Church Publishing: New York), page 733

in Tagalog

A Prayer for First Responders

Blessed are you, Lord, God of mercy, who through your Son gave us a marvelous example of charity and the great commandment of love for one another. Send down your blessings on these your servants, who so generously devote themselves to helping others. Grant them courage when they are afraid, wisdom when they must make quick decisions, strength when they are weary, and compassion in all their work. When the alarm sounds and they are called to aid both friend and stranger, let them faithfully serve you in their neighbor. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

— Adapted from the Book of Blessings, #587, by Diana Macalintal

Prayer for Preparedness and Response 

O God, our times are in your hand.  In the midst of uncertainty lead us by your never-failing grace as we seek to be agents of healing and hope.  Walk with us through difficult times; watch over us in danger; and give to us a spirit of love and compassion for those who suffer and mourn.  And finally remind us that you have promised never to leave us so that even in the valley of the shadow of death your love may be felt, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  AMEN.

From Me

Heavenly father, I pray for all those in harm's way from these terrible disasters.  Give us strength to help each other.  Bless the first responders and those who devote themselves to keeping us safe.  And I pray that many more wake up to the man-made environmental stresses we have caused, and that we become better stewards of the Earth you have given us.

Stories from a Stony Land - Thomas Jefferson the First

I am finally resuming my Dad's writings and research on our family history.   Although some entries will be verbatim in my Dad's writings, some will require a great deal of adaption and interpretation.

Such is the case with poor Thomas Jefferson.  Little is written about this representative of the sixth generation, but I will tell what I can derive from my Dad's notes.

Thomas Jefferson Strait is a unique name in the annals of Strait history.  It's the only name I can find to have a second, and even a third.  Our line is notorious for not having Juniors, and a line of inherited names.

I suppose I could have been Thomas Jefferson Strait the Fourth, but gratefully, I was named instead Thomas Martin Strait.  And although I have had three sons, there is not a Junior in the bunch.

Thomas Jefferson Strait, date of birth unknown, the first born son of Reuben, is an important figure in Strait history, even though my Dad did not write much about him.  He married Maria Powell, and that becomes an important name as generations progressed, as for decades, family reunions were known as the Strait/Powell reunions.

Thomas moved.  He moved quite a bit before he settled.  They were in Tyrone Township in Steubens County of New York.  In 1837, he was "removed" (my Dad's word) to Butler County, Ohio.  This is depressing, as no right-thinking Strait would settle in Ohio.  Thankfully, in 1842,  they moved to Jennings Col, Indiana (Dad probably meant County rather than Col- at least that's what my googling turned up...and who can argue with google?).  Indiana was better than Ohio, but still not quite right.

In 1847, he made the big move.  That's right.  The Strait clan had finally come to the stony land - Jackson County, Michigan!

They are listed as having seven children:

Sarah Ann (1833 - 1905) marrying Otis Dillingham Finch in 1852.  The notes on this are funky, but I believe she had six children, including another Thomas Jefferson!

Reuben (presumptuously named after his grandfather), born 1834.  More on him in the Generation 7 post!  Hey, you don't want me to spoil everything, do you?

Joseph, who died at 2.

Thomas Jefferson (another one), who died at 7.

Evaline, who died at 4.

Frances, who married Henry Thomson, but died at 21, childless.

Louisa (1850 - 1927) married Thomas Powell in 1839.  Is this Powell connected to Louisa's mother, who's maiden last name was Powell?  Shades of Game of Thrones!  There is nothing in my Dad's notes to indicate if there was a relationship.  Mary Powell's family was from New York, and Thomas Powell was from Michigan (presumably), so I don't know.  Intriguing, to say the least. Louise had two children, Frances Leone (1871 - 1943) and Clayton Adelbert (1875 - 1940).

That's a wrap for now on Generation Six!  Well, at least we're finally in Michigan!

In Search of the Middle

HIGH ITALIAN

You would think that with a denomination as small as The Episcopalians (just under 2 million), that there would not be much division within.  But, not including the social issue disputes, there are different approaches to worship styles, partly due to the church's Anglican roots, which connects to both the Catholic faith, and Protestants.  Thus, the terms "high church" and "low church".

High Church refers to a more ritualistic, structured form of service, one that very closely follow the Catholic Church.  They use an older Book of Common Prayer (1928 edition), and the priests may be more dressed up and slightly more distant.  Low Church is little more Protestant in nature, with more flexibility in service structure, a more modern prayer book, less pomp, and reverends a bit more accessible.

The faith and message is the same.  The variation is only in how the service is conducted.  It's all good.  Offering alternative styles just brings more of God's children to the table.  I find the worship style that I like best is a blending of the two, and I am grateful to have a parish where that is so.

This high and low concept can be applied to other things.  It is not an aspersion or a negative, but merely a description as to structure and aiming at different tastes. And so this is how I've come to think of Italian restaurants (wow!  I betcha didn't think that's where I was going with this!).

I love Italian restaurant, all kinds, but they do have their differences.

High Italian are the fanciest ones, where reservations may be required, and wine is very prominent (the wine list may be longer than the entree list).  There is more ambiance, with pretty tablecloths, attentive waiters, and romantic music. The dishes are more sophisticated, and more true to Mediterranean culture.  The use of cheese is not as extensive as with other types of Italian restaurants.  This kinda dampens my enthusiasm, as I am a certified cheeseaholic.

Low Italian focuses almost entirely on pizza, although there  may be a few other choices.  Emphasis is on take out and delivery, and there is none or very little seating at the actual location.  The  food served can range from the extraordinary to the banal.  They are focused on speed and accuracy.  

But wait!  There's more!  There are finer gradations than just low and high! 

High middle Italian. has slightly less ambiance than high, and with a more American view of Italian food.  There may be a take out element, but most of it is still served at the restaurant.  They try to turn over the traffic at a quicker rate.  There may be wine, but it's not the focus.  One chain of this style of restaurants specializes in all you can eat salad and bread sticks. 

Low middle Italian still centers on pizza, but the variety is a bit wider.  There is take out and delivery, but there are also places to sit in the restaurant.  Many of these type of restaurants feature a buffet, with a constant stream of new pizzas being set out. I love these buffets, but they are not good for my figure, nor do they reflect well on my maturity.  Three hours after coming in, I am wheeled out with unbuttoned pants, and in a semi-catatonic state.

But, like church, what I like best is the middle.  They have pizza and calzones and Strombolis, pastas and sandwiches, cheese-sticks and  desserts.  Take out and delivery exist, but they also have a lively in-house trade. Prices are not dirt-cheap, but they are relationally affordable  compared to other mid-range restaurants. Like me, they believe in the power of cheese.  When we visit other areas, I search them out, using google-powered radar.

Where I live, sadly, had, until recently, been bereft of middle Italian.  Some places struggled with it, but didn't quite hit the mark.  Happily, all that's changed! A new middle Italian place has opened up near me! We are still exploring the menu, figuring out the best things to order.  And believe me, there is a lot of fun in the exploration!

I will be there as often as my budget and family allow.

Here's to the middle!  Fantastico!

Strands of You

Strands of you are blowing by
Central air times twenty fly
I hug the roots and do I try
To not leap into the spinning sky

Hold my hand and here we'll stay
I will not let them take you away
It rages and screams and does not play
But it will not stop me is my fervent  pray

The slashing winds want us to take wing
And dash apart against a storming ping
But that is not how these souls will ring
To thee I will forever and ever sing

No matter what the category
It will not strip our glory
No turmoil disrupts our satori
Nothing can end our treasured story

The wind rages on
The rains pile upon
Roofs are gone
But when the lights finally dawn

It is to you
It is because of you
It is for you
It is with you

That I hold on

A Special Weather Message to My Michigan and Other Out-of-State Friends

Yeppers.

Yet another weather related post.  That must be another  record for a blog that is supposed to be chock full of variety.  Yep.  Another record.

Just like the storm headed for Florida and the east coast of the United States.  It's huge, both in terms of size and strength.  It's still a Category 5, as it barrels its way closer to South Florida.

There are some that have been concerned about Alison and my family, and to the degree of danger that we're in.  Some have urged us to evacuate. One person even offered us to stay at their home in North Georgia until the storm passed.  I am very grateful and thankful for that offer, and for all the kind concern people are showing my family.

I want to let you all now that we're okay.  Presently, the storm's path is projected to center offshore when it passes our area, at either a level Two or One.  It is following a trajectory similar to Hurricane Matthew did last year.  That caused some wind, rain, downed tree limbs, and a loss of power.  We are most likely in for something similar with Irma.

There no mandatory evacuations in our area.  I have heard of very few people even thinking of leaving.  We live some 60 miles inland from the Atlantic.

We currently have a lot of panic buying, especially relating to bottled water and gas.  Some people are hoarding, whether in an attempt to gouge later, or in a panicked sense of need, I am unsure.  Some events are being cancelled.  I'm hearing of people who are afraid to travel much for fear of the amount of gas they will use.

We need to be with our pets.  We have a very big caravan of animals we would have to move, if we were to evacuate.  Our dachshund/spaniel mix, Cocoa Bear, who is about 9, is starting to get very nervous during storms, and it is best if someone can be with her to help her see through them.

My biggest disappointment is that my son, Greg, is visiting my middle son, Doug, in Atlanta, and it does not look like we will be able to get away to see them.  Between the traffic (I-75 threatens to be a parking lot), and needing to be here to protect the house and animals, I don't think we're getting up there.  This hurts me tremendously, and I  am re-evaluating it hour to hour.

So, my Michigan friends and others, we will "weather" through it.  Thanks for your concern, and prayers to all of you, as more and more of us have to cope with the increasing frequency of extreme weather events.

Because global warming is real, and it's not just causing harm in the future.

It's causing harm right now.

Cocoa Bear!

My Not-Friend Irma

Oh, my gosh!

Another weather related blog post?

What?  Is this turning into a weather blog?

I can't help it if that is the way the world is going.  That phenomena some of you feel is a hoax, is hoaxing on a path that may take it through my hometown!

I fear that this might turn into the Gulf, where the super-heated waters there may super-charge it again, and hit Alabama/Louisiana with tremendous force.

This is a huge storm that will effect a wide area, but hopefully it will move steadily, and not turn into a Sit'n'Spin like Harvey did.

There are rumors of disappearing bottle water from stores. Gas prices are soaring. My work compatriot is scouring for a generator.  Me?  I don't know.  This area has had a lot of near misses. Whether this will be another one, I don't know.

I do have other ideas for blog stories, including one where I highlight the similarities between me and Ronald Reagan, and one about high and low Italian restaurants.

They won't be today, as I am going to work early.  I've been away since Thursday, and even though I can only put in a few hours a week, there is actual work accumulated for me.  They still need me! That is both comforting and worrying.

So this is brief today, but there will be more later!

Of course, it will probably wind up weather-related.

Stay safe, my friends!

Double Dee Rainbow Monday Musings

Friday night it appeared.  A double rainbow, as we were leaving Waycross to return home to Blackshear.  Alison was able to take a picture of it, and also some traffic.  There is a railroad crossing ahead, and given that it  was Waycross, it was almost a miracle that there wasn't a train there.

Waycross is one of the few areas where CSX, the railroad company, hasn't made tremendous cutbacks yet.  They recently hired a CEO whose major function is to cut costs, consolidate, and eliminate jobs. I know a good number of people who either they or their spouse works at CSX.  If they do cut back here, it will have a major impact on the community.  We have very few employers in the area who pay a living wage.

Meanwhile, why we were in Waycross on Friday night?  We were trying a new pizza place!  Stoner's Pizza Joint, a title that seems somewhat redundant.  It is highly suggestive of a, uh, certain counter-culture, but, unlike Mellow Mushroom, it had none of that ambiance once you got inside.

We ordered to pick up, and told the wait would be thirty to forty-five minutes.  Alison and I left for a quick errand, leaving Benjamin there to listen out for our order, and he had some friends there to talk to.  When we got back, we continued to wait.  For an hour.  I finally went to the front and asked what the progress was for an order under the name of Strait, and, lo and behold, it was in a red warm-up bag on the side-counter.  I had been watching the activity since I had come back, and I knew that red bag had been there the whole time.  Shyness has its price.

The food itself was very good.  The cheesy bread was spectacular, and Benjamin's Stromboli was excellent.  The BBQ chicken pizza was good, at least in places.  Topping distribution was uneven, leaving some pieces with very little on them.  I also don't need to order hand-tossed crust anymore - it was a little tough for my TMJ mangled jaw.  I think the thin crust, or the New Yorker crust, should be pretty good.

---------------------

The flood waters continue to recede in Texas, revealing substantial property damage.  It will be a very long time before that area is restored, and it will cost a lot of money.  Hopefully, we are up to the task. And aren't we grateful we have a President who visited and saw a lot of "happiness" and told everyone while he was leaving, "Have a good time!"

Harvey, as devastating as it was, is not the only weather related problem in the world.  Last week, there were also terrible floods in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.  We currently have destructive wildfires in California and Montana.  And Hurricane Irma is churning and strengthening out in the Atlantic, with a potential turn towards the U.S. East Coast.

------------------------

In a direct confrontation with the SEC, Michigan beat Florida, 33 to 17.  That means their national title hopes are still alive.  Currently, power rankings put Michigan at No. 4 - IN THE BIG TEN.  Oh, well.  Right now, they're undefeated.  We'll take it a game at a time!

-------------------------------

Our Sunday Movie of the Week was Westworld from 1973. It was pretty good, and you could see echoes of the HBO series that ran recently.  Yul Brynner's single-minded robotic pursuit of Richard Benjamin was impressive, and seemed like the pattern used for Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator.  I also enjoyed the glimpses of Medieval World and Roman World, something the HBO series has not done much of.

------------------------

A couple weeks ago I had heard from my dwindling group of Trumpeteer friends, that Trump's bully browbeating in connection with North Korea had caused them to surrender and stop challenging us and others. Yeah.  How's that bully-bating thing going now?


-------------------

Happy Labor Day!  I'm sure all of you are taking the day to be grateful to unions, who had brought so many of the worker's benefits that too many of us just take for granted.  Yeah.  That's happening.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait

Return of the Speculatron! Saturday Political Soap Box 171

It's been awhile since I had a Saturday Political Soap Box, almost a month ago, when Damn Strait announced his run for Congress.  Not there haven't been political posts - I've done a good number during the weekdays - I just keep forgetting that Saturday Political Soap Box is a brand name and don't literally have to be written on Saturday.  My change in schedule, due to my semi-retirement, has changed up the time I'm writing, and Saturdays have been busy with other things.

I've been reading a great book by the wonderful writer Rick Pearlstein, The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and The Rise of Reagan. This is a an era where I was already politically aware and paying attention, but it is interesting to see it put back into context.  About a third of the way through this big book, there two big surprises to me.

The first is that there is a remarkable similarity between my childhood and Reagan's, that has to do with an overactive imagination in the mid-elementary years, our peer's reaction to it, and what we did in the aftermath.  I intend to write about this in more depth in a blog post soon.

The second was the pace of Watergate.  I am up to early Fall 1973 in the book, and it is amazing to me how much had come out by that time about Nixon's involvement in Watergate, and how corrupt and vile the whole thing was.  Several major Watergate conspirators had already spoken before Congress, Woodward & Bernstein had published many details in the Post, and it looked Nixon was caught.  But it was still another almost full year, not until August 1974, that the threat of imminent impeachment and his fateful meeting with three prominent Republican Senators, brought Nixon to resignation.

I did not recognize this at the time I was going through it, mostly because I realized Nixon was guilty from very early on.  Nixon was a dishonest crook, a paranoid, a dark and brooding man, and I thought everyone knew it.  Why was this such a big surprise? I had lost faith that enough others would recognize this, so the resistance was not surprising to me.

What does this have to with current events?  It means to me, the investigation into the Russian connection to Trump seems almost overwhelming to me, and I didn't see how much longer it could go on before Trump was out of office, most likely by resignation, but also possibly impeachment or removal via the 25th Amendment.  If anyone were to ask me before reading Pearlstein's book, I would say that Trump didn't have months or years, but only a matter of weeks.

Now, I'm not so sure.  Yes, news seems at a quicker pace than during Watergate, but that may be illusory, and just the way we remember things when the past is telescoped.  Really, there were frequent and devastating headlines about Watergate and Nixon's corruption.  They just took a longer time than you would suspect to sink in.

So it may be a longer time than I thought, maybe a year or more, before it finally sinks Trump. Especially if Trump hunkers down and decides to fight impeachment, or he grants strategic pardons, or fires Mueller, it makes it hard to tell how long this will take.

Trump starts with a smaller popularity base than Nixon.  Trump won with an electoral college majority, but lost the popular vote by almost three million.  Nixon won with one of the largest margins in American history, both the popular vote and the electoral college.  It took a long time to erode that. But it did erode,  By the summer of '74, most polls show that if the election were held that day, McGovern would have won.

This may go quicker because Trump is already at a remarkably low 35% or lower approval rating. This sounds like we're approaching a done deal level about his survivability,  but it is disconcerting to note that Hillary Clinton still does not poll at beating Trump.  Her margin of support has also gone down. I worry until some of those who voted for Trump admit they made a horrible mistake and that they should have voted for Clinton instead.  I won't name names, but I have specific people in mind, in my own circle of friends AND co-workers who I am waiting to hear this confession from.  I know. I am waiting in vain.

We may be in for many more shocks before enough people wake up to be able to move past Trump, to accept his resignation, removal or impeachment, without degenerating into civil conflict.  Yes, some may fuss regardless, some may become violent regardless, some may continue to vote for con men and charlatans, but hopefully the massive numbers will be there so that we can move on.

Given all this, if this is a Speculatron, I must make my predictions, realizing how wrong they can be.

So here goes -

I still think he'll be gone by the end of the year, most likely by resignation.  If he doesn't resign, then it may be by Senate Trial in the Spring of 2018.

Vice President Pence is involved, but he may survive as part of a compromise to get Trump to resign, and to get America to move onto other things.  That compromise will involve pardoning Trump, and, at a minimum, members of Trump's family. Pence, of course, will be an absolutely horrible President, and should be able to work better with Congress to get some truly monstrous stuff passed.

The Democrats will come within a hair of controlling the House in 2018, and the Republican margin in the Senate will be about the same.

The damage that will be dome will be considerable.  The only advantage will be at least Pence is not clinically insane.

In 2020, the Progressive Majority will take hold, transforming American politics for the next couple of generations.

That last prediction is not just a Speculatron.  It is a hope and a prayer.

It is our only chance at survival.